By Kristy Dorsey Business Correspondent

The amount of electricity used by ScottishPower customers between Monday

and Friday has fallen to lows normally only seen at the weekends when much

of the corporate world is taking a break.

Across the UK, demand for electricity has been significantly depressed by

lockdown restrictions, a spokesman for the company said. With home usage

dwarfed by demand for powering offices, factories, retail and other

consumer outlets, some weekdays are running below levels that would have

been typical on a weekend before restrictions were put in place to combat

the spread of Covid-19.

The revelation came after ScottishPower and its parent company, Spanish

energy giant Iberdrola, issued their trading updates for the first quarter

of this year. In the case of ScottishPower, the figures covered only the

first week of lockdown restrictions in the UK.

The Glasgow-based subsidiary showed increased earnings across all its

divisions, which include power generation, operating the networks that

transport power, and the sale of energy to households and businesses.

The generation business, ScottishPower Renewables, recorded a 29% increase

in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to

£214.2 million. Much of that was attributable to an increased contribution

from East Anglia One, its 714-megawatt windfarm located 43km off the coast

of Suffolk.

The development has passed a significant milestone in that construction of

all 102 of its turbines is now finished. The project is due to be completed

in the third quarter of this year when all connected to supply power, with

new ones coming on stream daily.

Compared to the first quarter of 2019, production was up by 40%, with

two-thirds of the increase attributed to East Anglia One.

ScottishPower is focused on renewable energy after selling its conventional

power generating plants to Drax in a £700m deal in 2018. In August of last

year, Iberdrola sold a 40% stake in East Anglia One to investment bank

Macquarie, raising £1.6 billion to support the second and third phases of

the East Anglia development.

ScottishPower chief executive Keith Anderson wants to use the company’s

green credentials to win support from consumers by helping them feel that

they are doing their bit to tackle climate change. However, this has yet to

result in any significant uptake, with the number of retail customers in

the first quarter of this year flat at 4.7 million.

Total electricity volumes were 11% lower than in the same period a year

earlier, while gas volumes were down by 10%.

Despite this, EBITDA surged by 85% to £81.4m after the previous year’s

results were hampered by industry-wide confusion over the application of

price caps by regulator Ofgem. Those issues have now been resolved.

Mr Anderson said projects like East Anglia One will provide the backbone to

the “green recovery” that will kick-start economic activity across the UK.

“Successful installation of the turbines is a tremendous achievement for

the East Anglia One project,” he said. “It brings us another step closer to

completion when the windfarm will be producing the clean, renewable energy

the UK needs to decarbonise and meet its pledge to reach net-zero.

“We are already seeing the benefit of the windfarm with a 40% increase in

wind power this year, green energy that ScottishPower is providing directly

to its own customers.”

The third division within the business, SP Energy Networks, recorded a 10%

increase in EBITDA to £238.6m from its power transporting activities.

Across the wider group, Iberdrola posted a 6% rise in operating profit from

its renewables business during the first quarter, which helped to offset a

slight fall in its home market.

Net profits were 5% higher at £845m. The sale of an 8% stake in its Spanish

renewables subsidiary Siemens Gamesa generated a capital gain of £422m in

the fourth quarter, bringing reported net profit to £1.13bn.

This one-off gain will help mitigate any negative impacts from Covid-19

this year, Iberdrola said. The company is maintaining its profit forecast.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/18414912.scottishpower-says-electricity-demand-plunges-amid-lockdown/?fbclid=IwAR0FaDKm_tUOL8fI6wgIkdbXbR_KxTOr0jlBOFJoGLpytE_fsjns5chnbH8


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